A note to visitors

To all visitors,

If you’ve been wondering where I’ve been and why I haven’t been answering mail, it’s because my site received a malware attack late last week. I spent quite a lot of time trying to figure it out and ended up hiring a firm to fix it. Talk about stress.

Along with a huge spike in readership this year, the security issues have increased significantly. It’s unfortunate that some people have nothing better to do than destroy other people’s work, but it’s a fact of life—and it seems a bigger target is more fun to destroy. When I first discovered this latest problem, I was so discouraged I was ready to give it all up, but ultimately I decided to fight back.

Although it is important to me to preserve the work I have put into the site, it’s also imperative that visitors to HoneyBeeSuite feel safe when they are here and that children can use the site freely. This last attack included hidden links that, when clicked, redirected you to places you’d rather not be. Trust me on that. And after we got that fixed, the photos disappeared. But the group I hired, Sucuri*, was persistent, efficient, knowledgeable, and polite. I highly recommend them.

Anyway, thanks for your patience. I also want to give a special thanks to those who have donated to HoneyBeeSuite. I make sure the money goes back into the site, and this time it certainly came in handy.

So glad you are pushing forward. These E problems are only getting worse unfortunately. Most major banks are now asking all clients to change their passwords because the hacking is so wide spread. It’s like varroa mites are now infecting us!!! As a child of pre-computer and cellphone era, I find it increasingly challenging to deal with all the computer complications, but then again I am just a humble bee and nature guy…

Never back down…we need you!!!

Bill

Gerry

June 3, 2014 at 4:50 am

Rusty,
Thanks for your persistence and not giving up on your website. Though I’ve been involved in beekeeping for almost 40-years now, I still enjoy reading your articles and reading other viewers comments and inputs. Your website is one of the most informative and fun websites I routinely visit regarding the honey bee and beekeeping. Hang in there and “shake of the haters!” 🙂 Gerry

Bill

June 3, 2014 at 6:40 am

Welcome back!

Frank Olson

June 3, 2014 at 7:18 am

I am glad you fought back. It is a sad comment on our society when others have to destroy good things that don’t even pertain to them.
Thanks again for the good fight.
Frank

Paulette Minatre

June 3, 2014 at 8:11 am

I feel your pain! Our company had a malware attack on our office manager’s computer last month, and the felons stole $77,000 from our direct deposit bank account. We recovered $20,000 discovered in time before money from several money mule accounts could send wires overseas.

I love reading your stories, so keep the spirit!

debbie

June 3, 2014 at 9:18 am

glad you are back and didn’t give it up! i enjoy reading your posts and value the information you provide

Diana

June 3, 2014 at 9:50 am

Thanks for staying. I realize how often I read you for hard info and also for just plain enjoyment.

Darkstone

June 3, 2014 at 1:06 pm

Rusty-
Thank you so much for deciding to fight the internet trolls instead of packing it in. I am a brand new beekeeper (7 whole weeks!) & I have appreciated your site SO much. Not only have I learned a ton from your posts, but you were also kind enough to offer me help personally. After trying to hive my girls in near freezing temps & making some dumb newbie mistakes that almost cost me my whole package (apparently, if a little essential oil is good, a lot is NOT better!), my girls are actually ramping up. We’ve got lots of new bees, pollen, & they’re busy burr combing the heck out of everything. Even got to add a second box already. I don’t think we’d have managed it without your advice & your very informative website. I’m busy bookmarking all your overwintering advice so I have it later. I’m a schoolteacher, so I know what it’s like to do a thankless job, but please realize how many people & bees you are helping with your knowledge, even if you don’t hear from them.
THANK YOU!!!

Heidi

June 3, 2014 at 6:29 pm

Yuck! I’m sorry you had to deal with internet vandals, they must be the sort of people who knock over gravestones and spray hives with insecticide. When you think of all the good a person could do with the sort of tech-savvy it takes to do that sort of damage it makes you sad for them, what a waste of their talents.

Rusty

June 4, 2014 at 8:24 am

Heidi,

That is true. Imagine what you could do (for the good) if you could program like that.

Anna S.

June 4, 2014 at 6:07 am

Rusty, I am so glad your site survived the malware attack! I am a new beekeeper, too, so your site is so useful. It is also enjoyable to read and the photos of bees and swarms are lovely. It is so sad certain people have nothing else better to do than destroy other people’s work… A long time ago I switched to using Linux as an operating system on all my computers and have been problem free ever since. Maybe that is an option you could consider.

Rusty

June 4, 2014 at 7:38 am

Anna,

Thanks for the suggestion. The problem is the attacks occur on the host server where my website resides, not on my home computer. Hackers target these servers all the time and, unfortunately, stuff gets through. Interesting though, I’ve been thinking about Linux for a while simply because I have issues with a certain well-known software company.

Kim

June 4, 2014 at 7:02 am

Ditto all of the above! You are my go to for info, answers and inspiration…don’t know where I’d go if your site disappeared!

FYI, I’m writing from South Africa (live I Seattle, on vacation here, next stop Kenya!) where this a.m., while out on a walk, who should land on me? A honey bee of course!

Rusty

June 4, 2014 at 7:33 am

Kim,

That’s very cool. I’ve got many readers in South Africa; maybe it belongs to one of them!

VeesBees

June 5, 2014 at 3:29 am

Your site is like my ‘mentor’. When I had to move my hive – in the middle of the night!! – your site was glowing from my phone as my husband and I drove frantically to and from. You are saving more honey bees than those that live in your yards!

Rusty

June 6, 2014 at 8:01 am

Thanks for the vote of confidence. Funny thing is, I use my site too. When I can’t remember how to do something, I just look up what I wrote before.

becky

June 14, 2014 at 7:39 pm

Need some advice; I believe my in-laws have a voluntary beehive that has settled in between their walls through a rotten window frame. I def do not want to harm the bees…what do we do??

Rusty

June 15, 2014 at 9:26 am

Becky,

Contact a local beekeeping club and ask someone to take a look. Sometimes they can be removed, but sometimes it is a major carpentry job. An experienced beekeeper can give you an assessment.

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Bee-yond Bees

Bees are more than a hobby;
they are a life study,
in many respects a mirror
of our own society.

—William Longgood

Why Honey Bee is Two Words

Regardless of dictionaries, we have in entomology a rule for insect common names that can be followed. It says: If the insect is what the name implies, write the two words separately; otherwise run them together. Thus we have such names as house fly, blow fly, and robber fly contrasted with dragonfly, caddicefly, and butterfly, because the latter are not flies, just as an aphislion is not a lion and a silverfish is not a fish. The honey bee is an insect and is preeminently a bee; “honeybee” is equivalent to “Johnsmith.”

—From Anatomy of the Honey Bee by Robert E. Snodgrass

State Insects

The non-native European Honey Bee is the state insect of:

Arkansas

Georgia

Kansas

Louisiana

Maine

Mississippi

Missouri

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New Jersey

North Carolina

Oklahoma

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Tennessee

Utah

Vermont

West Virginia

Wisconsin

Not one native bee is a state insect. The closest relative of a North American native bee to make the list is the Tarantula Hawk Wasp, the state insect of New Mexico.

Update! Minnesota now has a state bee as well as a state insect. Bombus affinis, the Rusty-Patched Bumble Bee, has been so honored. Good work, Minnesota!

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